Bee Is Him: How Bumblebee Makes The Series in ‘Transformers: EarthSpark’
Image Source: Den of Geek
Bumblebee is one most iconic and well known of all the Transformers. With a new series (Transformers: Earthspark) on our home screens, and a new film on the horizon for 2023 (Transformers: Rise of the Beasts), now seems like the perfect time to take a look back at this character’s history and figure out why he is so beloved and enduring.
Bumblebee made his first appearance in the opening minutes of the first episode of the 1984’s The Transformers series, which is now lovingly referred to as “Generation 1” by fans. After the Transformers arrive on earth, Bumblebee’s job becomes that of Human Liaison Officer, as he develops a friendship with Spike Witwicky, the main human character of the series.
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From here, Bumblebee basically becomes the “kid appeal” character of the Transformers franchise. He’s depicted as young, still with a lot to learn, and is treated as a little brother by the other Autobots. His small stature compared to the other Transformers also helps him appeal to kids.
Bumblebee had a really good run in Generation 1. He survived on the show much longer on the show than most of the other Transformers who were introduces in the original 1984 toy line (Hasbro would regularly kill off Transformers and replace them with new characters to keep the public buying more toys). No other Transformer got more toys released of them in the G1 run than Bumblebee.
After being briefly rebuilt into ‘Goldbug’ towards the show’s end, he re-emerged as Bumblebee just in time for Generation 2. But this would be his last appearance for nearly a decade, as Hasbro lost the rights to the ‘Bumblebee’ name in the early 90s. This meant that Bumblebee didn’t appear at all in the ‘Beast Wars’ era, the Robots in Disguise (2000) cartoon, and the Unicron Trilogy of series (Armada, Energon, and Cybertron), or their respective toy-lines.
Hasbro got the license to the Bumblebee name back just time for the first Transformers live action film (2007) where he served as one the main characters of the movie, again filling the role of the Transformer who the human characters can relate to the most. The film also introduced one of the most well-known character traits of Bumblebee; his lack of speaking ability. This plot point was continued in all of the Transformers films, and even bled over into some cartoons.
Image Source: Gamespot
Bumblebee was also the first Transformer to get a solo movie (“Bumblebee” in 2015), where he again loses his voice, and must stop Shatter and Dropkick from telling the Decepticons about the Autobots’ intentions to build a base on Earth.
For 2015’s Robots in Disguise show, Bumblebee regained his voice and stepped up into a leadership role, mentoring a group of young Autobots.
This brings us up to today, 2022’s Earthspark. Bumblebee is about as prevalent in this show as he was in Generation 1. He’s not the true focal point, but is easily one the most important characters, and gets a fair amount of screen time. Considering the show introduces two completely new Autobots, which take over the role of “kid appeal” of the show, the fact that Bumblebee gets as much screen time as he does is a testament to the enduring appeal of his character.
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Sources: Youtube [1], [2], Transfomers Wiki
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